“I shouldn’t have let her go,” Jarek said, his gaze fixed on Kailia.
“What does that mean?” Cethin demanded.
Razik had forgotten about him.
“We ran into her in the city,” Jarek explained. “Wren, Bram, and I were getting supplies for the relocating Fae. I recognized her from the Esbat Festival, but Cethin said he had things under control last night.”
“Did he now?” Razik growled, leveling the king with another glowering glare. “Who was with her?”
“No one.”
“What was she doing?”
Jarek shrugged. “Ask Wren.”
Razik glanced down at the Fae, and she shifted under his stare. “She was looking for somewhere to buy a dress.”
“Razik!” Niara snapped in irritation.
“Sorry, Niara,” he said again. “We just need to figure out what to do with her.”
“The cells,” Cethin cut in. “Put her in the cells. Away from any other prisoners.”
Razik turned to face him fully, and the king held his stare, impassive and revealing nothing. First, he didn’t want her apprehended at all; now he wanted her placed in their cells? None of this made sense, and despite his earlier statement, Cethin wasn’t stupid. He was actually quite clever and cunning. It was annoying.
“Fine,” Razik finally said. “Jarek, can you take care of that? I need to talk to Wren. And Tybalt, apparently.”
Jarek nodded, easily lifting Kailia into his arms, blanket and all, and leaving the room. Without a word, Razik followed, Wrenat his side. The moment they were outside Niara’s apothecary room, he grabbed Wren’s hand and Traveled them to his study in Tybalt’s estate home. He got himself a glass of liquor before taking a seat on one of the overstuffed sofas, his head tipping back and eyes falling closed. The scratches from Kailia’s magic still burned faintly. He needed to bathe and clean them properly before they healed over and trapped an infection.
“Can I draw from you?” he asked, unsure of how full Wren’s magic reserves were.
“Of course,” Wren answered, and he felt the sofa dip beside him a moment later.
“You have enough magic right now?”
“I’ll be fine, Razik. But seriously? Again?”
He opened his eyes, setting his liquor aside to take the dagger she was holding out, already having sliced the Mark on her hand. He did the same to his palm before taking her hand in his to merge their blood. With her feet tucked under her, she propped her head on her other fist and waited for him to say something as power flowed between them.
Sighing, he said, “Dragon fire is one of two defenses we seem to have against these new threats. And we don’t have control over the second way. You didn’t tell me you spent time with her today.”
“I haven’t seen you to be able to tell you,” Wren said pointedly. “We ran into her in the city. She said she was looking to buy a dress. I took her to Elenor’s, but she left shortly after we entered the shop. By the time I went back to find Jarek and Bram, they were just getting word of the attack. A minute later, Fallon appeared, telling us to come to the castle.”
That about summed it up, he supposed.
“Did she say anything? About where she’s from? Any indication of what she’s doing here or what she wants?”
Wren shook her head, but the way she was worrying her bottom lip told him she was hiding something.
“Wren,” he said flatly.
“It’s nothing, Razik.”
“I’m pretty sure everything is something with her.”
“Kailia. She said her name was Kailia.”
“And?”
